Man strangles lover, cements body in loft in Palghar

MUMBAI: A 34-year-old man, who works as a driver, was arrested for allegedly killing his girlfriend in October 2020, and hiding her body in the bathroom loft of his rented flat in Vangaon, Palghar district, and cementing it to avoid a foul smell.
Suraj Harmalkar was arrested on Thursday and skeletal remains of Amita Mohite (32) were recovered from the loft. The police had to break the cement wall covering the loft.
Harmalkar and Mohite met six years ago while working in Boisar MIDC.Both resided in Vangaon. Mohite’s family had approved of their relationship. On October 21, 2020, Amita had left home saying that she and Harmalkar wanted to shop for their impending wedding, though no date had been fixed.
She did not return till late evening, and calls to her cellphone went unanswered. The family received WhatsApp messages from her number stating that she and Harmalkar had moved to Vapi, Gujarat for work., and that they had got married.
The family tried contacting Harmalkar, who worked as a driver in Boisar MIDC, but he did not answer calls or return them. The family filed a case against Harmalkar with Vangaon police in October. Last week, Amita’s brother spotted Harmalkar in Boisar. He pinned him down and brought him to the Boisar police station. Harmalkar told the police that he had married Amita who was working in Vapi.
The police took him to Vapi, but he kept giving evasive replies. The police later interrogated him and found Amita’s cellphone on him. Harmalkar told the police that he was estranged from his wife before Mohite, and Mohite, who did not know about his marital status, had been pestering him for marriage.
In October 2020, he rented a flat in Vrindavan Darshan building, Vangaon and invited Mohite over. She kept asking about their marriage. He strangulated her and dumped her body on the loft. He constructed a wall with cement, mortar and anti-leak glue. Harmalkar continued to pay rent and visited the flat regularly to ensure there was no foul smell.
The skeletal remains found were sent for DNA analysis, said the police. Harmalkar was booked for murder and destroying evidence, and has been remanded to police custody. Harmalkar claimed to have been inspired by a Hindi film ‘Drishyam’ that deals with a body hidden underneath a police station.